Lecturer
Social Sector Leadership
Social entrepreneur, changemaker and leadership expert
About
Alex Budak is a social entrepreneur and professional faculty member at Berkeley Haas. Budak created and teaches a transformative course called “Becoming a Changemaker,” and is Executive Director of the Berkeley Haas Global Access Program. He co-founded and now advises the social enterprise StartSomeGood.com, which has helped over 1,000 changemakers in 50 countries raise over $10 Million USD.
Prior to joining Berkeley Haas, Budak ran Scandinavia’s leading incubator and helped Change.org raise $30M from impact investors. He’s written about leadership for FastCompany and The Guardian and lectured on social entrepreneurship in venues ranging from the White House to the World Bank to Cambodia to Ukraine to the Arctic Circle.
He has an MPP from Georgetown and a BA from UCLA, and also received UCLA’s 2017 Recent Alumnus of the Year award.
Expertise and Research Interests
- Social Entrepreneurship
- Leadership
- Social Innovation
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Leading with Purpose
- Millennials
At Haas since 2016
2019- present Lecturer
2017- present Changemaker in Residence, Berkeley Haas
2016- present Co-Director Berkeley Haas Global Access Program
2011- present Co-founder (now advisor), StartSomeGood
2013-15 Country Director, Sweden at Reach for Change
- Member, World Economic Forum Expert Network: Social Innovation
- Board Member, Konnexio (present)
- Board Member, Peppy Pals (2016-present)
- Member, Sandbox Network
- UCLA’s Recent Graduate of the Year (2017)
- Real Leaders Magazine 100 Visionary Leaders for a Better World
- Diplomatic Courier’s Foreign Policy Top 99 under 33
- Friends of Europe: Top 10 North American Young Leader under 40
- YouthActionNet Global Fellow, Social Enterprise
UGBA 192N.1: Becoming a Changemaker